Coin-controlled vending-machine.



Witnes e g No. 785.813. PATENTED MAR. 28, 1905.

' J. LITTLE.

COIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE.

APPLIUIATION FILED APR.18, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

nventor Jami/1w Httomegs APPLIUATION FILED APR. 18, 1904.

l nventor.

NITED STATES Patented March 28, 1905.

PATENT OEEIcE.

COIN-CONTROLLED VENDING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 785,813, dated March28, 1905.

Application filed April 18, 1904. Serial No. 203,743.

To to whom it ntcty concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN LITTLE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented a new and useful Coin- OontrolledVending-Machine. of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in coin-controlled machines forvending various articles of merchandise such,for instance, as packagesof confections or cigarsor for the purpose of setting into motionmusical instruments or other devices.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a novel form ofcoin-controlled mech anism in which the weight and gravity of thefalling coin serve to engage or latch together the main operatingleverand the delivery mechanism, and a further object is to provide meanswhereby on the discharge of the coin the parts will be allowed toautomatically resume initial positions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism ofthis class in which a single operating-lever may be employed inconnection with any desired number of vending appliances, so that themovement of the single lever will simultaneously effect the discharge ofarticles of the same or different nature from a number of magazines,with each of which is associated a coin-slot.

ith these and other objects in View, as will more fully hereinafterappear, the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangementof parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it beingunderstood that various changes in the form, proportions, size, andminor details of the structure may be made without departing from thespirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view ofthe lower portion of a vending-machine constructed in accordance withthe invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is adetail sectional view of a portion of the machine on the line 3 3 ofFig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one of the delivery-slideconnections detached. Fig. 5 is a similar view of one of thecoin-receiving arms. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of one of thedischarging-slide-operating levers detached.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate correspond ingparts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The working parts of the apparatus are arranged within a casing 1, whichmay contain any desired number of magazines 2, shown in the presentinstance as provided with a bottom or base a, in which play slides 5,that deliver the successively lowermost articles of the magazinesthrough delivery-slots 6 in the front wall of the casing.

To the inner surface of the front wall of the casing is bolted a frame7, comprising a number of spaced brackets S, that are connected bylongitudinal bars 9 and transverse parallel bars 10, the latter servingas guides for the delivery-slides 5, each of such slides being providedwith a pair of dependinglugs, which straddle the bars. One of the lugs11 of each slide is provided with a central recess 12, forming a largepocket in which plays the upper end of a lever 13, the two walls of therecess being close to each other at their lower ends to form acontracted passage for the lever. Extending for the full width of themachine and mounted in suitable bearings in the brackets is a shaft 14:,on which the large hubs 15 of each of the levers 13 is loosely mounted,and the lower end of each lever is extendedto form an arm 16, that ispivotally connected to a latch 17, having a downturned bill 18 atitsfree end. This latch is normally held in elevated position by means of asmall tension-spring 19, connected at one end to the latch and at itsopposite end to a transverselyextending bar 20, that is parallel withthe shaft 14, and the lever and latch are both held in an obliqueposition, with the delivery-slide in readiness to engage and dischargean article from the magazines by means of a heavy tension-spring 21,extending between the front of the casing and the pivot-pin 22, whichforms a connecting means betweenthe latch and the arm 13.

On the shaft 14 is rigidly mounted a sleeve 24, having a cam-arm 25,preferably formed times on top of the latch 17, but its weight i beinginsuflicient to overcome the stress of the spring 19. At that end of thecollar opposite the cam 25 is an arm 26, preferably formed of aninherently-elastic material, such as brass, and at the outer end of saidarm is a coin-receiving pocket, formed on one side by the arm and on theopposite side by a pair of lingers 27 that are slightly spaced from eachother, so that a coin of proper diameter may be engaged and held by thearms, while a coin of smaller size will pass between them withoutoperating the machine. Should a coin of a proper weight and size beplaced in the pocket, it will exert downward force on the end of thelever 26 and will turn the collar 24 to an extent sufiicient to causecam 25 to depress the latch 17 against the stress of its spring 19, andwhen the coin is ejected from the pocket the spring 19 will overcome theweight of the arm and cam and will again elevate said latch.

Extending transversely of the machine and mounted in suitable bearingsin the brackets is a main operating-shaft 29, that is parallel with theshaft 1 1. This shaft carries a number of hook members 30, each of whichis rigidly secured to the shaft by a suitable locking device, such as aset-screw 31, and the number of hooks is equal to the number ofreservoirs or magazines, one of such hooks being associated with eachlatch 17 and the bill at its free end being disposed immediately belowthe latch, so that when the latch is depressed the two bills will beengaged and firmly locked together. To the main operating-shaft 29 issecured a lever 34, which extends through a suitable slot to theexterior of the machine, and this lever is normally held elevated by astrong tension-spring 35, so that the several hook members 30 will bemaintained in proper position with relation to the latches 17, the lowerends of the hooks 30 being curved in such manner as not to interferewith downward movement of the bills 18 and latches 17 when the coin isreceived in one of the pockets at the outer ends of levers 26.

In the operation of the device, there being as many magazines asdesired, a coin is inserted in one of the coin-slots 40 associated witha magazine from which an article is to be delivered, or several coinsmay be simultaneously inserted in the different chutes associated withthe several magazines. Each entered coin will travel down the chute 10,moving past a permanent magnet 41, so that if of paramagnetic nature itwill be deflected from the chute. If the coin is not deflected, it willtravel down the chute and fall into the receiving basket or pocket atthe end of arm 26, causing the latter to tip downward and the cam 25 toforce the latch down until its bill 18 engages with the bill at the endof the depending hook member 30. The operatinglever is then depressed,and the shaft 29 receives a rocking movement which is transmitted to thehook 30, and to latch 17, causing the lower arm 16 of the lever 13 tomove to the rear and the upper end of said lever to move one of thedelivery-slides forward and discharge the lowermost articles in themachine through the delivery-slot at the top of the casing. Toward thelatter end of the movement the inherently-elastic arms 26 will come intocontact with the cross-bar 20, and the sudden stoppage of this movementin advance of the actual delivery of the goods will cause the coin to bedischarged from the arms 27, it being understood that at this time thelever 26 has been elevated to an oblique angle, so that the discharge isreadily effected. Inasmuch as the two bills of the book 30 and latch 17are in positive engagement the movement will continue until the goodsare discharged and the downstroke of the operating-lever has beencompleted. On releasing the operatinglever the latter will be restoredto its initial position by means of the spring 35, and the rock-shaft 29will turn to initial position, allowing the slide and latch 17 to moveback under the stress of the spring 21, and when this movement is aboutcomplete the spring 19 will act to raise the latch 17 from engagementwith the hook 330 and elevate the coinreceiving bucket to a positionbeneath the chute in readiness for the next operation.

The connection between the upper end of the lever and the delivery-slideaffords a simple and effective means for transmitting the necessarymovement in a horizontal plane to the delivery-slide without thenecessity of expensive fittings, and further expense is saved byemploying only a single lever in connection with a plurality ofmagazines and delivery mechanism therefor.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. In acoin-controlled vending-machine, a magazine, a delivery-slide, adelivery-slide-engaging lever fulcrumed at a point intermediate of itslength, a pivotally-mounted latch carried by said lever, a springtending to maintain the latch in inoperative position, a spring forrestoring the lever and slide to initial position, a rock-shaft, anoperating-lever connected thereto, a hooked rocker-arm secured to therock-shaft and arranged to be. engaged by the latch, a pivotally-mountedsleeve, a cam-arm carried thereby and resting on the latch, acoin-chute, and an arm secured to the sleeve and provided at its freeend with a coin-receiving pocket for the reception of coins deposited insaid chute.

2. The combination with a rock-shaft, ofan operating-lever securedthereto, a plurality of magazines or reservoirs, a plurality of slidesfor said magazines or reservoirs, a transverse shaft or bar arrangedparallel with the operating-shaft, a series of operating-leverspivotally mounted on said transverse shaft, there being one of suchlevers for each of the said slides, a recessed lug carried by each slideand serving to receive one of the levers, a spring engaging the lowerend of each lever and serving to restore the slide and lever to initialposition, a latch carried by the lower end of each lever, springs forholding the latches in inoperative position, a plurality of hookshapedrocker-arms carried by the shafts and arranged to be engaged by thelatches, a plurality of sleeves mounted on said transverse shaft, a camsecured to each sleeve and in engagement With one of the latches, leversprojecting from the sleeves and formed of an inherently-elasticmaterial, coin-receiving pockets disposed at the outer. ends of saidlevers, and a cross-bar arranged adjacent to the rockshaft and servingby engagement With such inherently-elastic levers to disengage the coinsfrom the pockets.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own 1 have hereto aflixedmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN LITTLE.

Witnesses:

MIGHAEL LYDON, F. A. Gnoss.

